Who needs just compliance?

Vision: Acting as a trusted adviser over dozens of engagements we have confirmed that, if you measure objectively -- the effort needed to actually produce a solid cyber security posture amounts to only 10 percent additional effort compared to simply producing the appearance of 'compliance'.

The deployment and validation road map provided by the Center for Internet Security specifically their CIS 20 Controls Downloadis the central guide to our consulting practice. They have earned, and receive from us full credit for the work. The road-map makes projects to improve cyber security implementation much more effective.

Quote for today: Doing nothing has the down side of being difficult to determine when you are finished. (Nelson DeMille - Night Fall)

Soap Box (13Mar18):

iPhone Cracker (Graykey) Today's article on this tool by researchers at MalwareBytes indicates the security pendulum has (temporarily) swung away from user privacy. In cases of terrorism (alleged or confirmed) this may be appropriate. Employed without strong controls Graykey can pose problems for our fourth amendment rights. It will be interesting to see if Apple attempts to patch to preclude this method for breaking an iPhone pass code.

Previously:

What did we learn from the Experian Breach? That even in the certain knowledge that their systems were vulnerable, management made the decision to ignore the opportunity to close the gap. Policy in place required timely updating of patches. Practice authorized by management abrogated policy. The consumer suffers.

Can we do better? Explore the possibility that the FDIC Cybersecurity Assessment Tool 'results' were made public by regulatory requirement. Would consumers choose to do business with institutions at the bottom of the maturity scale?

Sen. Oren Hatch (R-UT) President pro tempore of the United States Senate has introduced legislation under S. 1475 seeking to provide a set of public security guidelines to be used by non-government entities. A bill to provide for the identification and documentation of best practices for cyber hygiene by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. A companion bill in the House is sponsored by Rep. Anne Ashoo, (D-CA). Hatch's office said it hopes to see wide, bipartisan support for both legislative efforts. Let's stay tuned and see if they pick up tha the Center for Information Security has already contributed (above) to a substantial body of work in this area.

Congratulations to the DHS and FBI on bringing together the December 29, 2016 Joint Analysis Report (JAR) providing technical details regarding the tools and infrastructure used by the Russian civilian and military intelligence Services (RIS) to compromise and exploit networks and endpoints associated with the U.S. election. This level of immediate and transparent disclosure is a step forward in improving information security and defending critical systems.

..." The failure to implement all of the Controls that apply to an organization's environment constitutes a lack of reasonable leadership." Attorney General Kamala G. Harris (CA) Breach Report 2016.